Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Canada on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney, his latest international trip aimed at locking in future support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine is under pressure from Russia’s air war, which is using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of the upcoming winter as part of its campaign to demoralize civilians, Ukrainian officials say.
Recent U.S. efforts to stop the more than four years of fighting have delivered no significant breakthrough, although Washington-brokered talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv are expected to continue.
“The main focus will be on supporting Ukraine in protecting our skies and preparing for the winter,” Zelenskyy said of his Canada trip in a social media post. “We will discuss how to strengthen our resilience, support our people, and ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself.”
Zelenskyy’s arrival on Wednesday night in Calgary, Alberta, came the day after his flight from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova’s airspace because of a drone incursion.
The aerial drone battle between Russia and Ukraine has grown in scale since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022, and Ukraine’s neighbors Romania and Moldova have reported repeated drone incursions.
A Ukrainian sea drone wounded 28 people, including two children, on the waterfront in the Russian city of Sochi, local officials said. They said that beach infrastructure had been damaged but did not provide further details.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that its forces shot down 448 Ukrainian drones overnight. The drones were destroyed over 13 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Caspian seas, the ministry said.
Falling debris from a Ukrainian drone set fire to a home in Russia’s southwestern Voronezh region, killing one woman and wounding two other people, local Gov. Alexander Gusev said Thursday.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena Zelenska arrive in Calgary, Alberta, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena Zelenska arrive in Calgary, Alberta, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has again been refused permission to compete internationally following a second round of checks after her status as a neutral athlete was revoked.
The International Skating Union on Thursday said Valieva was one of four Russian skaters, all 2022 Olympians, who were deemed not to “satisfy the requirements to participate as Individual Neutral Athletes.”
The others are men's skater Mark Kondratiuk and the ice dance team of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. No specific reasons were given in the four cases.
“The ISU will not comment further on individual cases while any applicable appeal rights remain available,” it said.
The latest obstacle to Valieva's career comes more than four years after disputes about her positive doping test overshadowed the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Valieva and the other skaters can appeal within three weeks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. There was no immediate comment from Valieva or the Russian figure skating federation.
The ISU is allowing more Russians to compete as neutral athletes this season, after most had been barred from its events following the invasion of Ukraine. It states they are “presumed eligible unless they fall within the disqualifying criteria.”
That has meant skaters such as Valieva have been considered eligible briefly after filing the paperwork for neutral status, only to have that status revoked soon after.
The ISU barred skaters from Russia and its ally Belarus in 2022. It allowed a limited number to return for the Milan Cortina Olympics and a qualifying event last season. Two Russian figure skaters, Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik, competed at the Olympics as neutrals without national flags and symbols but neither won a medal.
The ISU rules say skaters may be refused neutral status if they are serving with military or security forces, have previously participated in military operations against Ukraine or have “actively and publicly supported that war” since 2022.
In a separate matter, Valieva is also pursuing legal action over the process around her doping ban, which ended late last year.
A document published by the European Court of Human Rights on Monday showed Valieva filed a claim against Switzerland over a Swiss supreme court decision against her last year. At that time, she was attempting to have the suspension overturned.
Valieva’s claim to the European court alleges that the Swiss court infringed her rights by refusing to consider alleged new evidence in her favor, the ECHR document says. At the Swiss supreme court, Valieva’s lawyers presented an Associated Press news article from September 2024 to claim the World Anti-Doping Agency suppressed evidence.
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FILE - Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva competes at the Russian Jumping Championships in Moscow on Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov, File)
